Nambudri sect to which Shankara belonged objected to the cremation of
Aryambha by Sannyasi Shankara,upon which it is written in the Shankara
vijayam that he cut the body into pieces(!) and cremated in the house, and
this method was followed till a
few centuries ago.
praNAms
Hare Krishna
In mAdhavIya there is a slight change in this episode...after raising
objections with regard to sanyAsa dharma, brahmaNa-s at kAladi refused to
give *fire* to shankara for his mother's cremation , shankara amputated the
right hand of his mother to get that fire (!!)and then cursed the brahmins
of Kaladi for not giving fire for cremation!! First of all I dont know in
which shAstra it is said by amputating some limbs from the dead body one
can get *fire*...and secondly, it is very hard to believe paramArtha jnAni
like shankara did that job!! Thirdly, it is still a big puzzle that
shankara who had turned the direction of river, who had given *kanaka
dhAra* to a poor lady through his *maNtra shakti* opted for cutting his own
mother's limb just for the sake of fire!!
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar